I congratulate all the winners of the Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony from the bottom of my heart. Honouring Rajkumar Singhajit Singh, Ram Sutar ji and Chhayanaut is hounouring art, culture and knowledge.
Culture is the life supporting element of any nation. This gives strength to the identity and existence of the nation. The honour and prestige of any nation and its existence is also determined by the maturity of culture and cultural roots.
India has a long cultural history of thousands of years. She faced a long period of slavery as well as external aggression without being affected. This was possible because of the contribution of several stalwarts like Swami Vivekananda and Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore.
India's cultural wealth is like a colourful garland which gets strength from its different coloured beads. The change of water and dialect after every couple of miles make India diverse and multi-faceted.
Gurudev had very well understood this strength of India and had presented this diversity through Rabindra Sangeet.
Rabindra Sangeet depicts the colours of entire India and it is beyond the boundaries of language. Gurudev considered folk art and traditional dances as architect of the country's culture. If one visits Santiniketan, one can understand the fact that Manipuri dance teacher Nabakumar Singha ji was very much impressed by him.
Today Rajkumar Singhajit Singh, who has been honoured with the Tagore Award, represents this rich culture. Rajkumar ji has devoted his life for promoting Manipuri dance. He has played a leading role in propagating cultural harmony through Manipuri dance tradition. Hope he will continue to contribute to this field in the future. Many congratulations to him for this award.
Friends,
Gurudev was beyond all limitations. He was devoted to nature and humanity. Gurudev considered the whole world as his home, so the world in return provided him with all the love. Even today, the Afghans are talking about the story of 'Kabuliwala'. Even today, in different cities around the world are memoirs associated with him and many prestigious universities have 'Chairs' named after him. Three and a half years ago when I had gone to Tajikistan, I had the privilege of inaugurating Gurudev's statue there.
Friends,
It is very rare to see Prime Ministers of two countries participate in the convocation of any University. It is the love and reverence towards Gurudev that the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina ji was also present along with me in the convocation ceremony of Visva Bharati University.
Gurudev's composition 'Amar Sonar Bangla' is the identity of Bangladesh; it's their National Anthem. This shared cultural heritage of India and Bangladesh has been further strengthened by Chhayanaut. The humanitarian and cultural values of Chhayanaut express the feelings of Gurudev. I congratulate them for this honour.
Friends,
Talking about Gurudev, I often like to refer to his days spent in Gujarat. His brother was the Commissioner of Ahmedabad and while living with his brother, he had composed several poems there. The spirit of Gurudev's composition 'Jana Gana Mana' was strengthened by the inspiration of 'Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat' professed by Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel.
I am glad that today another event is connecting these two great personalities. Today, Shri Ram Sutar ji has become the link between Gurudev and Sardar Saheb. Sutar ji has made the nation proud through the Statue of Unity. I once again congratulate Sutar ji for the Tagore Award for strengthening the feeling of national pride and the spirit of national unity. And I have heard his speech. Although he has crossed the age of 93, the essence of his speech was - I have still a lot to do! This is the motivation for the youth.
Friends,
Gurudev's work and message are beyond time and place. His insistence towards the protection of humanity needs to be strengthened today. Considering the current challenges in the world, studying Gurudev and learning from him has become all the more relevant today.
I will end my speech with the lines of Gurudev-
Gurudev ji wrote -
"I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted and behold, service was joy".
Let us continue with the spirit of service. Let us continue to work to enrich the country's culture further. With this expectation, once again my best wishes to you all.
I would like to thank the Hon'ble President for taking time out and being a part of this event. His presence has multiplied the glory of this event manifold. I also congratulate Bhai Mahesh Sharma that his department has done a commendable job by rekindling emotions through this award.
Thanks a lot!!!